if you could keep your fucking temper we wouldn’t be moving bodies in the stinking hot Missi-fucking-ssippi nights,” Rue snarls, already over the entire fucking thing.
I get it.
I am too. I’m over dealing with hot-headed assholes who joined the Unseen to act rough and tough when really they’re pathetic fucking cry-babies over their egos.
All of it is bullshit.
“Fucking Serpents come around here and we kill them. Simple as that, if they roll into Coldstone they’re asking for bullets,” Vic snaps again, and Rue drops the shovel in his hand.
Great.
Here we fucking go.
I take a step towards him and Vic looks relieved for about a half second, right before he realizes I ain’t stopping the fight.
I’m joining it.
Cole and Axe both ignore us all, heads down and shovels moving like there isn’t about to be a beat down, but I don’t expect anything less from them. They know the score.
Rue and I are Callaghans.
The Unseen is ours for the taking, only a matter of time before the mantle is passed on to us and we rule it. Rue’s already shown his hand, ruthless and cutthroat. He’s never been one to fuck around and if there’s a body to be buried he’s showing up to get it done.
I’m the wild card.
No one expected a Callaghan to go off to college and get a computer science degree. They expected my homecoming even less. I was behind my cousin in patching in but only because I knew our club needed some fucking tech support and I was the only one with the brain for it.
I didn’t join this club, I was born into it. I’ve always thought about the club first, myself second and that’s why assholes like Vic piss me off.
Thinks with his dick and his ego.
It’s gonna get him killed and I’ll be god-fucking-damned if I let him take the club down with him. Shit like this starts wars.
Wars get good men cold and six feet under.
Rue dives at Vic the second his eyes move over to me, the split second of distraction enough to get the man on the ground. Cole swears under his breath but doesn’t stop his work, digging and scooping up parts of dead Serpent to slop into the barrel we’re filling up. I keep my hand by my gun, ready to draw it if Vic does something stupid.
He always fucking does.
Rue beats the fuck outta him.
He’s a scrappy sort of fighter, dirty and fucking brutal, like he’ll do whatever the fuck it takes to win. I fight the same way because who the fuck cares about fair? This is a man’s world, ain’t nothing fair about it.
The crunching of boots has Rue pausing, his fist in the air and Vic choking on blood underneath him as we wait for who the fuck is out here to disturb us while we’re getting shit done.
King and Hellion stalk into the clearing.
I let out a breath but the thunderous look on my uncles’ faces don’t exactly spell out good fucking news for us. Rue punches Vic one last time and then stands up, shoving the asshole onto the ground again when he tries to stand up as well.
Hellion shakes his head at me with a warning look but I shrug back at him. Nothing about what’s happening here is a regret for me. Not a damn thing.
“What exactly is happening here?”
Rue is panting too much to speak and it’s probably best if he keeps his mouth shut so I answer for him. “We’re cleaning up after Vic.”
King stares at us all like we’re unruly children and I can feel Rue’s hackles rising. I don’t even have to look at him, I can feel that shit in my bones.
“Why exactly is he bleeding, Rue?”
Fuck.
Rue stares down at him and there’s nothing really human left in his eyes. “Because he ran his mouth. Needs to learn a fucking lesson about who the fuck he’s talking to.”
King stares at his son for a second and I can see the disaster starting there before he even speaks. “Vic’s been a member for longer than you’ve been alive, Rue. Simple as that, it’s a pecking order thing.”
Oh bad move.
Bad, bad move.
King has been gone for too long. Doesn’t know what shit went down while he was in prison, doesn’t know all of the ways his son has thrown down for the club. Doesn’t know what rules have slipped and let the brothers become too fucking relaxed about shit.